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Bossiness on Healthcare

A roving reporter chanced upon Dr. Bossypants and did a quick interview for our edification.

Q: For our listening audience, could you tell us by what authority does Dr. Bossypants issue her edicts?

A: Yes. Here is an abbreviated list:

Some people like her.

She has a two masters degrees and a doctorate from an accredited institution of higher learning.

She was a professor for 24 years, and had the good sense to retire in a timely way.

She’s stayed alive and in shape for many decades, produced lovely children, marrying only twice, with the second attempt lasting over thirty years and counting.

She has faced a deadly disease.

She grows a fine garden and eats healthy food.

She thinks she knows what’s best, but she tries to be reasonable.

And, as mentioned above, some people like her.

Q: What does Dr. Bossypants have for us to consider today?

A: The topic for today, dear readers, is greed, government, and healthcare.

Q: Well then, hmmm. What does Dr. Bossypants have to say about these important topics?

A: Listen up, people. Dr. Bossypants has been a keen observer of human nature for many years. Humans are greedy. We don’t have to be, but most of us are. And corporations (posing as people, or not) are greedier. We all need some limits.

If you think, for one minute, that medical insurance companies have the health of those they cover at heart, you’re a fool. Admittedly, government is a clumsy expression of the common good. It functions only insofar as those comprising the “common” take responsibility and stay involved. Yes, Medicaid and Medicare are fraught with fraud and tomfoolery. All human institutions suffer from such. But the profit-motive in healthcare needs to be removed or minimized.

And yes, as humans, we will err. It’s better to err on the side of the collective good than on the side of making the rich richer. Eventually, things get top-heavy and dynasties topple. Dr. Bossypants hastens to assure everyone that toppling is something to avoid. Middle-class is a good, good thing. Trust us on this, dear reader.

Q: So Dr. Bossypants thinks a single-payer medical system is the way to go?

A: Basically, yes. Dr. Bossypants is not an economist, but she suspects in the long run, Medicare for all will cost less in taxes than random and inadequate emergency care provided to the poor and uninsured.

It is to a society’s advantage to attend to the health of its citizens. Healthy people are smarter people. They work more. They take better care of their offspring. They are happier. Of course, there are limits to what should be provided, but we can figure that out.

Q: Where would Dr. Bossypants draw that line?

A: Cosmetic surgeries that are for appearance only. People need to pay for their own hair implants or facelifts. Also, we need to pull back from excessive medical testing, when whatever the results are, we can’t fix it anyway. These are a couple that come to mind. Dr. Bossypants has a tiny modicum of faith in the collective wisdom of ethically-minded professionals who can develop these difficult guidelines. But the basics of health care should be provided collectively, by all of us, paying taxes. Period. First things first.

Q: What are “first things,” Dr. B?

A: Full availability of primary care, nutritional education, preventative care, emergency services, life-saving surgeries and treatments, every possible form of birth control, sex education, (K through graduate school), abortion for those who do not wish to bear a child, fantastic prenatal and postnatal care for all who do wish to bear a child, basic dental care, basic mental health care, and support and education for those who choose to smoke or are obese, to name a few. But I would defer to the collective wisdom of an appointed team—a team absolutely and completely stripped of any chance to benefit monetarily from the decisions the team needs to make.

Q: My, you’re judgmental and a bit nasty.

A: Indeed. And hopelessly optimistic. We can do this, people. We can. We do it fairly well for soldiers and those imprisoned, and my yes, for those in congress. We CAN do it for the rest of us.

Yes. I’d exclude those butt enhancing procedures unless requested by taxi cab drivers who needed more padding for their work demands. And unlike Judge Gorsuch, I would not require the driver stay with a freezing, broken cab.